Spindrift Aesthetics medical spa opens in NE St. Pete

When Ponce de Leon landed in Florida in 1513, it was in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth. According to St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce president Chris Steinocher, de Leon might have found it 500 years later, in a little strip mall tucked into a neighborhood near Northeast High School.

That spot, the Hillside Shopping Center at 1506 54th Avenue N., played host to Steinocher and dozens of neighbors, community figures and fellow business owners for the May 3 grand opening of Spindrift Aesthetics, a spa offering safe aesthetic medical treatments including injectables, skin treatments, body contouring and more.

For the owner, aesthetician and advanced practice nurse Valerie Prietz, it was the culmination of a long journey.

“Spindrift has been a kind of journey for me in that I’ve been a medical professional for a long time,” Prietz explained. After several years working in medicine, a friend urged her to come to the University of South Florida for her master’s degree in nurse anesthesia. There, after a weekend medical conference on botox, she found a passion.

Over the following decade, Prietz developed a diverse network of mentors and collaborators that she credits for building her experience and maturity in the field. After several years working for other providers, she wanted to launch her own business – one that lived up to her own standards of patient safety gleaned from 20 years of experience in medicine.

“This ‘industry’ – I don’t like calling it an industry, because it’s a medical profession – is growing very rapidly, and I think a lot of safety things are being bypassed very quickly,” Prietz explained. “There’s a profit margin and you have to keep up with this and you have to keep up with that and sell more … and that’s not me.”

Based on the turnout her first day, she struck a chord with neighbors and community members. Steinocher appropriately cited the aesthetic her new business added to the area. “How cool is it that now that funky vibe is in every neighborhood of St. Pete, and this neighborhood needs this funky vibe,” Steinocher said. “What Valerie is bringing something that we started this community with – we said we wanted to be the healthiest place on Earth.”

One attendee, City Council candidate Donald Bowens, agreed. “It’s awesome to see new businesses come to St. Pete. New business means new jobs. New business means better jobs.”

For Prietz, this new business is really a continuation of a life spent helping people to become their best selves. As a medical professional and a business owner, she compares her relationship with patients to a marriage. “I’m still there for you past your treatment date. As my friend says, ‘We’re dating right now, but we’re going to be married in a few years.’ We’re in this for the long haul.

“That’s how I look at aesthetics. We’re all aging and we’re all getting older, but at the same time we can be beautiful at every stage of our life, because we’re still the same person inside.”